Just Friends. (A falling in love with my best friend story)

Chapter 27: Escape

    Parker's POV:

Once my alarm beeped at 4:30, I crawled out of bed and dizzily made my way towards my bedroom door, before turning around and putting some shoes on. I had a lot of fun making my way upstairs, considering I almost fell twice.

Once I woke up, my balance regained and I started to jog towards school. I wondered if Genna would be there, or if she would blow me off. I was starting to think that I was a complete idiot, trying to meet up with her after our huge fight, but there she was, fully-awake and leaning against the school, waiting. I almost started to smile.

        "Took you long enough." She said shortly. I frowned and realized as I got closer that she wasn't looking very good. She had finally looked healthy again after the diet, but now she was slowly starting to ebb away again. Her wrists were now bony again and her hips weren't as filled. I walked up to her and noticed she also wouldn't meet my eyes. She was still mad. She had every right to be too.

After I had gone home from the fight, dad came in and asked if everything was okay, and I told him about the fight and he made me realize that I had just been the world's douchiest douche bag ever.

        "Genna?" I asked.

        "What." She said shortly. I sighed.

        "Look. I'm so sorry for yelling at you like that. I shouldn't have lost my temper so quickly and I should've let you explain things. I now realize how hard it must've been for you to tell me and I'm the world's douchiest douche bag because I yelled at you for something you couldn't control. And I said you were doing it for pity, I-" She cut me off.

        "I know what you said. I was there." She said. I sighed and tried again "Genna, what I said was dumb. And I don't want to say goodbye again knowing that you're still pissed at me. I know I was always quick to apologize, so that's what I'm doing now." I said, offering the olive branch. She finally met eyes with me, and I could see that they were filled with tears. 

My heart nearly broke to see that I could've made her this sad.

        "I trusted you not to react like that. I thought you of all people would understand. I thought you loved me. The whole week we were together, you stayed by me even though I was still distant." She said, her voice quavery. She slid down the wall so she was sitting down on the grass. I went over and sat next to her.

        "I do love you Genna. And it was probably a mistake that we got together like that, because that made things even worse; even though it was only for a little while. What can I do to make it up?" I asked.

        "You can take back everything you said." She said simply. I made an X over my heart and held my right hand up.

        "Then I sincerely take it all back. I unexclude myself from your life. So...will you come home?" I asked. She smiled at me sadly.

        "No. I cause too much pain for everyone around me. Your dad hasn't talked to me once since he found out. Your mom even took a job break for me. And what did I do? I left them. I can't go back now. They gave me everything and I took it for granted." She said.

She was right. She couldn't go back now. Things would never be the same. But...I couldn't just say goodbye to my best friend like that. Especially when I don't know if I'll ever see her agian.

I voiced this to Genna and she bit her lip, and I now realized how hard it must be for her not to just start crying right here. I pretended not to see as she wiped a few tears with her jacket sleeve.

        "I know. But...think of it as an early graduation. When you graduate, you and all your friends go off to different places, go your separate ways. And you will see me again. But I have to pick up the pieces on my own. I pretty much blew everything up and now I need to fix it." She said.

I nodded.

The sun started rising and she gave me a tired smile.

        "You have school today. Let Carter and Chelsea know I'm okay for me. And tell your parents I'm in one piece." She said. I stood up and so did she, and I realized that I probably won't be seeing her again, until she decides to meet up. Which she probably won't.

I took off my favorite sweatshirt, and handed it to her even though I was freezing. I had also snuck a fifty in one of the pockets that I had been saving up, because I knew it'd be hard to make a start on your own. She didn't notice the fifty though.

        "Keep it. Something to remember me by." I said. She giggled.

        "We're not saying goodbye forever Parker. Just for a while." She said. But she gave me a small silver ring that was on her pinky and slipped it on mine, then pulled me into a hug.

I hugged her back, not knowing what else to say. Pulling back a little, I kissed her one last time. 

She kissed back but then pulled back and smiled.

        "Nothing?" She asked. I shook my head.

        "Nada. You'll find the right guy." I said. She nodded and I kissed the top of her head, pulling her in close.

***

        "Where's Genevieve?" I heard a male voice ask. I looked up to see that Carter kid standing next to me with a worried expression. Chelsea was in tears across the classroom.

        "She ran away. She met up with me though, and she wanted me to let you know that she's okay." I said sadly. He frowned.

        "Why'd she leave with no goodbye? That doesn't seem right." He asked. I shrugged.

        "She messed things up and wanted to right them." I said. He nodded slowly. He really seemed to care about her.

        "Okay." Was all he said.

He walked back to his seat, and I stole another glance at my pinky ring. I really did hope Genna would make things right.